As the two met, the Sarafan Raziel acknowledged the wraith's killing of his brothers and his pursuit of the Heart of Darkness, but refused to stand aside, instead goading Raziel into attacking.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Impaling his former self on the Reaver, Raziel killed his human incarnation and renounced his past completely. As he did so, the Wraith Blade manifested (after being disabled by Moebius's Staff in the last chapter). Raziel watched in alarm as the wraith blade uncoiled from him completely and wound around the physical Reaver blade, forcing it to turn on and impale Raziel himself.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Vainly fighting the blade, Raziel was struck by an epiphany that the physical Reaver is empty - the souldevouring entity that Raziel has sensed within the physical Soul Reaver previously and had carried with him as the Wraith Blade throughout his journey was in fact a future version of himself, taken into the blade at this moment.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Overwhelmed by despair, Raziel was outraged when Kain showed himself, accusing him of orchestrating his fate. Kain did not respond in the same way and instead pleaded with Raziel to let go and to trust him. As Raziel's strength faded he felt a growing sense of displacement - as his soul hovered both inside and outside the Reaver, granting a small window where there was a Reaver-convergence.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Kain spares Raziel, altering the course of history

Acting quickly Kain used this window to rip the Reaver from Raziel, apparently sparing him from his fate - igniting the Third paradox and spawning the Fourth timeline. As history reshuffled and new memories formed in Kain's mind Raziel feared that they might have caused fatal paradox, but the juncture eventually subsides, leaving Kain shocked at the changes caused in the Time-stream.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Kain desperately tried to warn Raziel about a trap set by "the Hylden" and that Janos Audron must not be revived, but his warnings were lost as Raziel was drained of strength and slipped into the Spectral Realm. There Raziel found the Wraith Blade awaiting him - proof that his destiny to enter the blade had not been changed, only postponed.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Raziel has uncovered the truth of the Soul Reaver blade and his own cyclical destiny - that he is the entity within the blade, and it was not intended to be a souldevouring weapon, it only gained this ability by its imprisonment of Raziel. Raziel has thus been carrying his own future soul as a weapon. Raziel is apparently fated to enter the 'vacant' Reaver blade.[SR2][SR2-C10]

Judging by the the effect on the the Time-stream and Kain's own altered memories, the new timeline has some major changes to an extent not seen in previous timelines. Kain's new memories include a mention of the apparently antagonistic Hylden and his belief that Janos Audron should not be revived.[SR2][SR2-C10][BO2][DEF]

Kain's attempt to alter history has not changed Raziel's fate - his possession of the Wraith Blade shows that he is still destined to enter the Reaver blade at some point.[SR2][SR2-C10][DEF]

The conclusion of Soul Reaver 2 brings to the fore Amy Hennig's research on time travel and its implications. As explained by Hennig:

"For me, the most interesting approach in time travel stories is summed up with the statement: 'you can't go back in time and change history because you didn't'. That's my favorite way of looking at it. If you do go back - then you did go back. Which means that time travel is ultimately a journey of epiphanies, where the protagonist realizes the role that he already played in history. Of course, Blood Omen established that history can in fact be changed - and we'll be respecting this precedent in Soul Reaver 2."

Fundamentally Hennig saw Raziel's journey going back in time as one of personal discovery and epiphanies. The conclusion of Soul Reaver 2 ultimately features this in two different forms as Raziel discovers not only of the distasteful part his often lionized human self has played in history, but also of his supposed inevitable fate to be imprisoned within the Reaver and the purgatory his future incarnation has endured.[1][SR2][SR2-C10]

"When the scene first played out, I asked Amy why it broke on Raziel. She explained that 'you can't reave your own soul'. That made sense to me. Somehow she had always planned for Raziel to be inside the reaver, and probably would have addressed it in the next game in some meaningful way. There wasn't a different explanation for the Soul Reaver as far as I know. "

The dialogue transcripts used in this article are, wherever possible, adapted directly from the Dark Chronicle summary transcripts available in game. Scenes not included in the Dark Chronicle feature are instead adapted from Tenaya's transcript of Soul Reaver 2 at Nosgothic Realm - itself derived from the Dark Chronicle and an official game script provided by Crystal Dynamics' Kyle Mannerberg.[SR2][4]

Dialogue in this chapter and even the title of the Dark chronicle chapter as "full circle" refers repeatedly to cyclical destiny of Raziel and the concept of returning to the beginning. The phrase was first used in the series in Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain in the Dark Diary heading within The Vampire Purges indicating Kain's return to the Pllars and his upcoming confrontation with his maker Mortanius.[BO1][BO1-C11] The phrase returns and is featured heavily in Soul Reaver 2, with Raziel again mentioning it as he enters the Chapter House for the first time in A Reaver in Time and sees the memorials to his former human life.[SR2][SR2-C1] Notably the Chapter House bears a prominent ouroboros, which is symbolic of cyclical destiny and immortality and is used throughout the series - but particularly in Soul Reaver 2 - for this purpose, including appearances in many decorations and murals such as the design of Checkpoints.[SR2] As well as for Raziel it is also "full circle" for the series in general as the last chapters of Soul Reaver 2 notably return to the time and place featured in the introduction to Blood Omen.[SR2][SR2-C9][SR2-C10][BO1][BO1-C1] Another notable cyclical destiny referenced throughout the series is the cycle of birth and death of the Elder God's Wheel of Fate.[SR1][SR2][DEF]

Raziel mentions his dread when offered the Reaver blade by Janos, this was seen in Vampire Interview with Raziel rejecting the blade despite his compulsion to take it. When he comes across the blade in Blade of Vengeance he similarly feels a "nameless dread" but takes up the blade when forced by Moebius disabling his Wraith blade - at the time he expresses he is wary of further deception, but presses on regardless. In this chapter the reason for the dread becomes apparent with the revelation that Raziel is destined to become the entity trapped within the blade.[SR2][SR2-C8][SR2-C9][SR2-C10]

Raziel's acknowledgement of the presence of a Soul devouring entity trapped within the blade matches earlier statements made regarding the blade throughout Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain and Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, with Kain remarking in Defeat Azimuth that its purpose was to "feed on the souls any creature it strikes" and Raziel remarking on "legends [which] claimed that the blade was possessed, and thrived by devouring the souls of its victims".[BO1][BO1-C8][SR1][SR1-C5] In Soul Reaver 2 Raziel begins to truly appreciate the presence of the soul devouring entity when the Wraith blade meets its former self in a Reaver-convergence in A Reaver in Time, realising it is "willful, ravenous, and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment".[SR2][SR2-C1] The Reaver continues to occasionally take control throughout Soul Reaver 2, notably empowering itself at the forges and influencing itself the new Reaver bar mechanic.[SR2][8][3] In Epilogue the blade again takes control and acts against Raziel.[SR2][SR2-C10] Notably the revelation that the entity within the blade is Raziel also recalls Kain's initial feelings in Defeat Azimuth that he and the blade are "kindred".[BO1][BO1-C8]

Raziel recalls Kain's attempt to strike him down with the Reaver which caused the blade to shatter completely. This event was seen in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver in the chapter Soul Reaver and its destruction granted Raziel with the Wraith Blade as a weapon. Although the reason for this was unknown at the time (and apparently expected by Kain), the revelation that the blade was inhabited by Raziel explains the destruction as a result of the paradoxical meeting of the two Souls of Raziel. It also means that the Wraith blade is - quite literally - Raziel.[SR1][SR1-C5][SR2][SR2-C10]

Dumah's commemorative mural in the Chapter House foreshadows Raziel's role in the deaths of the inquisitors

Raziel and Kain's desperate conversation here is part of a larger theme of trust between the two. When Raziel is Kain's lieutenant he trusted him absolutely, but after his execution in Vampire Scourge at the start of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, he strongly distrusts Kain.[SR1][9][10][SR1-C1] The mistrust continues throughout Soul Reaver 2 but begins to wane as Raziel discovers more about Nosgoth's past, his own destiny and Kain's goals.[SR2] At the Second paradox in A Fateful Meeting, Kain explicitly mentions trust, conceding that Raziel should find his own truths and will not ask for it from him - this is ultimately turned around in this chapter with Kain outright asking Raziel to trust him at the Third paradox.[SR2][SR2-C5][SR2-C10] The trust theme continues in Legacy of Kain: Defiance, where Kain again asks Raziel to trust him in a tense situation - here factors have turned against them and Raziel rejects Kain, interpreting the request as a threat.[DEF][DEF-C11] By the end of Defiance however their trust seems to have once again been restored and Raziel pledges his allegiance to Kain.[DEF][DEF-C13]

Raziel's fear that they may have invoked a "fatal paradox" is based on Kain's warning from A Fateful Meeting, which suggests that they could be tricked into triggering an unresolvable paradox, which would expel them from the Time-stream. This appears not to have been the case however.[SR2][SR2-C5][SR2-C10]

Kain's warnings about the Hylden and Janos Audron remaining dead foreshadow the events of Blood Omen 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance, as does Raziel's realization that he has merely postponed his destiny. Defiance will come closest to a direct continuation of these events: showing Kain searching the Stronghold for Raziel a few years later, following Raziel's imprisonment in the underworld.[BO2][DEF][11]